3d models visible in preview, but not in 3d viewer

[Zom-B]

I’m making custom footprints tuned to my project needs, but for *some* footprints the 3D models don’t show up in the 3D Viewer, however they do show up in the 3D Settings of the footprint.

At first I thought this was because I selected the step file for all my footprints, and that caused this issue without exception. However after selecting the wrl for all my footprints, there are still some left with this issue.

There is no difference between the 3D viewers in either the Footprint editor or the PCB editor. Both don’t show the model for these components.

I looked in the original and it uses the wrl. In fact, the 3D settings are now identical. Compare the original with my copy

Application: KiCad
Version: 5.1.5-52549c5~84~ubuntu18.04.1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.58.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1 zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.0.4 libpsl/0.19.1 (+libidn2/2.0.4) nghttp2/1.30.0 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 5.3.0-40-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8) GTK+ 3.22
Boost: 1.65.1
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.58.0
Compiler: GCC 7.4.0 with C++ ABI 1011

Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

nb. I couldn’t copy the version info at all from a fresh start of Kicad, and the “Copy to clipboard” button also didn’t work (copying from the text area in the main window worked). When I went and started Kicad from the terminal to look for any error messages, copy suddenly worked.

[Rene_Poschl]

How did you open the 3d viewer window? (give the steps such that we see the same at least for the officially supplied footprint)

[Zom-B]

The 3D viewer opens with pressing Alt+3 in either the Footprint Editor or PCBnew.
The 3D Settings are opened in the Footprint Editor by pressing Footprint Properties.

[Rene_Poschl]

Did you open it from the footprint editor or pcbnew? This makes quite a difference.

[Zom-B]

I found the reason, but it is not something I expect to bring about this behavior.

In the footprint properties, the type was set to ‘Through hole’ instead of ‘Surface mount’.

I don’t have kicad-nightly anymore so I won’t report this as a bug straight away.

[Rene_Poschl]

The 3d viewer has visibility options where you can select which part types are visible (smd, tht and virtual). This can be selected in the dialog reachable via preferences -> display options (or with the button in the top toolbar).

[Zom-B]

I see. I must have hit that keyboard shortcut by accident at some point. Since I haven’t uses Through hole components in a while I hadn’t noticed. Sorry for your time.